1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to records management and, more particularly, to tracking notifications to users of an automated records management system.
2. Related Art
Records management has become increasingly essential to the success and future of a business. Technological advances have given rise to greater reliance on electronic information in dispersed data systems. The amount of information to be gathered has also increased. For example, the Internet and its e-mail and web-based content gathering capabilities have aided the proliferation of data such as never before seen. The increasing amount of hard copy information has aided this proliferation as well.
Along with technological advances and the widespread propagation of data, a new age of corporate governance has also resulted in a greater emphasis on records management. Emphasis on issues such as corporate fraud have led to large-scale corporate liability and corporate failures. Greater focus is being given to corporations and their executives, as well as corporate compliance with new laws enacted as a part of this new age of corporate governance.
Corporate non-compliance is a major source of corporate liability, resulting in increased complexity for records management systems. Many compliance policies have been embodied in legislation. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 are examples of such legislation. Due to regulations such as these, it may be deemed necessary for a corporation to manage and maintain its records in a particular manner. Similarly, some courts have awarded judgments against various companies for the manner in which they negligently managed their records and/or destroyed records (e.g., Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC).
A significant number of companies now maintain formal records management programs, and it is widely agreed that such programs are important to the success of a business. However, current records management programs may not address the needs of today's businesses in that they have not been updated in accordance with technological advances. For example, many of today's records management programs do not incorporate electronic records.
Current records management programs may also lack protections that promote the consistent application and enforcement of records management policies. For example, some information technology systems may not be structured to support desired records management policies. Moreover, records may be incorrectly classified due to differences of opinion among users that manually perform classification operations.
One particular instance in which current records management programs have been deficient relates to ensuring that owners of records which have been put on hold are periodically reminded of the status of such records. Furthermore, improvements are also needed in the way records-related notifications sent to users are tracked and recorded.